Posts by whrin_admin

UK: Helen Ukpabio’s London visit renews focus on African child abuse

The Witchcraft Human Rights and Information Network (WHRIN), The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) all reportedly contacted Home Secretary Theresa May and requested that Ukpabio be deported and permanently banned from the UK. Why? Gary Foxcroft, Executive Director of WHRIN explains:

… There have been numerous cases of children in the UK being tortured and sometimes killed due to the beliefs that Helen Ukpabio espouses … We cannot afford to wait for another such case before the Government takes action to put a stop to such preachers.

Read more here

South Africa: Man accuses gran of witchcraft, chops her neck

A man is expected to appear in the Giyani Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for allegedly killing his 83-year-old grandmother with an axe, Limpopo police said.

“The 29-year-old grandson accused his grandmother, Miluva Chauke, of bewitching his mother,” said spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto.

“He took an axe and chopped her on the neck on Saturday.”

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India: After eight months, Dabholkar killers elude police net

The sensational murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar is yet to be solved eight months after he was was gunned down while on a morning walk here, creating a nationwide furore.

Despite assurances by top officials, including Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister R.R. Patil, there is no progress in nabbing the culprits.

Dabholkar, a campaigner against superstition and witchcraft and a medical doctor, social worker and a journalist, was shot at from close range and killed while on a morning walk near his residence close to the Omkareshwar temple in Pune Aug 20

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Ghana: Safety in Squalor – Ghana’s Camps for Alleged Witches

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in Ghana. A 2009 Gallup poll found that 77 percent of Ghanaians believe witches exist. For the women who are exiled, it means life in one of six camps for alleged witches, commonly called “witch camps.”

Thus, these camps seem to save the lives of alleged witches, but conditions are squalid. The inadequate food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare constitute numerous human rights violations. Many residents come from families that have no means of support for these women other than to send daughters and granddaughters to live with them. These “helpers,” therefore, are also exiled from their communities and damned to live in these inhumane conditions.

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South Afrcia: I took muti, says raped man

A North Coast man who was allegedly gang-raped at gunpoint by three women says he was able to cope because of muti he had taken days earlier.

Mocked by some listeners when he was interviewed on radio this week, he has been praised by a gender activist for his bravery in discussing his ordeal.

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France: Social suffering and anxiety: deciphering coughs and colds at Akan anti-witchcraft shrines in Paris

In treating illness and suffering, the Akan anti-witchcraft shrine is often presented as a model of unchanging, tightly bounded and antiquated ideals. This fails to acknowledge the extensive repertoire of Ghanaian witchcraft discourses and contemporary divinatory practices uncovered at Akan anti-witchcraft shrines. This paper analyses how one of the most popular Akan anti-witchcraft shrine in Europe, in an eastern banlieue of Paris, diagnoses the seemingly common and innocuous coughs and colds suffered by recently arrived, unskilled female Ghanaian migrants as something more socially and economically malignant, witchcraft. 

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Tanzania: The Albino Witchcraft Murders

Documentary which charts the attempts of two people with albinism to follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear in Tanzania. Against the backdrop of an escalation in brutal murders of people with albinism, quietly determined 15-year-old Veda still dreams of completing his education.

Josephat Torner has dedicated his life to campaigning against the discrimination of his people, confronting communities who may be hiding the murderers. Harry Freeland’s film reveals a story of deep-rooted superstition, suffering and incredible strength.

Watch the documentary here

Papua New Guinea: Witch-hunts in Papua New Guinea

A belief in Kumo witchcraft has led to attacks on women who are accused of being sorcerers.

Watch the video here

Botswana: Muti murder chaos rock Tonota

Kenya: Woman, daughters raped and killed

Residents of Wekelekha village in Bungoma County are still reeling in shock after a woman and her three daughters were raped before being murdered in a bizarre incident. According to witnesses’ accounts, villagers woke up to an eerie silence and discovered a trail of blood leading to the woman’s house.

Upon checking, they found the four bodies. And in what pointed to a ritual killing, all the four bodies bore strange marks near their throats, a pointer that the victims’ lives might have been taken systematically and with a purpose.

Read more here